‘Tony Blair spoke to the media mogul Rupert Murdoch three times in the 10 days before the outbreak of the Iraq war - once on the eve of the US-led invasion - it was disclosed yesterday.

The telephone conversations were among six calls between the two men detailed by the cabinet office in response to a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury.

The information was released the day after Mr Blair handed over power to Gordon Brown last month, following a three and a half year battle by the Lib Dem peer. Lord Avebury waited until yesterday to publicise the information.

No details were given of what subjects Mr Blair and the News Corporation chairman discussed in the calls on March 11, 13 and 19 2003, ahead of the launch of US-led military action in Iraq on March 20.

Lord Avebury said: "Rupert Murdoch has exerted his influence behind the scenes on a range of policies on which he is known to have strong views, including the regulation of broadcasting and the Iraq war. The public can now scrutinise the timing of his contacts with the former prime minister, to see whether they can be linked to events in the outside world."’

Blair & Murdoch Spoke Days Before Iraq War

At the time, Rupert explained to the Daily Telegraph: “We can't back down now, where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam... I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly...”

When the organ grinds, the monkeys dance. Or, rather, they type, sitting down at their word processors to tap out the requisite falsehoods about WMDs & al-Qaeda links & the rest of it.